Jitu out of Rio
Jitu Rai of India, after being in contention to make the final till the last 3 shots of the 60 shot qualifying round in the Men's 50m Pistol, eventually bowed out in 12th place on Day five of the Olympics shooting competition being held at the Olympic Shooting Centre at Rio's Deodoro Cluster. On a windy Rio morning, where qualifying scores were down, Jitu shot a 554 at the end of his allotted shots. The top qualifying score was 567 and Zhiwei Wang of China who qualified for the Finals in 8th position shot 556, two points more than Jitu. Jitu Rai had earlier made it to the finals of the Men's 10m Air Pistol event at Rio but could not get into medal contention.
Prakash follows him
The other Indian participant in the 50m pistol event, Prakash Nanjappa, finished a lowly 25th out of 41 with an aggregate of 547 as the shooters continued to draw blanks from the ranges. Praksh, who become the oldest Indian marksman to make the Olympic debut at 40, did not have much to so far at the biggest stage, falling miserably in his first outing at Olympics. Nanjappa, who become the first Indian pistol shooter to win a World Cup medal, suffered a paralytic attack in the right side of his face later in 2015. But he recovered and made a comeback the next year and went on to win the silver medal in the 50-metre pistol event in the Asian Air Gun Championship in Tehran.
Avtar's campaign ends
Indian judoka Avtar Singh crashed out of the Rio Olympics after losing to Refugee Olympic Team's Misenga Popole in the second round of the Men's 90 kg elimination Round of 32, here on Wednesday. The 24-year-old from Punjab, who had clinched a gold at the South Asian Games in Guwahati early this year, failed to match up to Popole, who is originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The 24-year-old Popole gathered a point through Yoko, which is awarded for a throw that is 'partially lacking' in two of the three elements of an ippon: putting the opponent on his back, speed of throw, force of throw.
Sivalingam A DEADWEIGHT
India's weightlifting campaign at the Rio Olympics ended in disappointment with Sathish Kumar Sivalingam finishing fourth in the men's 77kg event Group B category here on Wednesday. National record holder Sivalingam lifted 148kg in snatch and 181kg in clean and jerk for a total of 329kg to finish fourth in the six-lifter competition. Group B is meant for lower-ranked competitors who have registered lower entry weights and by finishing fourth even in this category, Sivalingam has no chance to be on the podium.